anyone into flyfishing?

VimFuego

BigPaulie said:

I've been a keen flyfisher for many years and have fished all over Scotland in that time.

I would heartily recommend getting a few casting lessons early doors.

Learning can be a frustrating business and being shown the basics can really make a big difference and get you fishing more effectively instead of hopelessly thrashing the water and scaring every fish for 10s and 10s of square metres of water.

Do you have tackle already or will you be borrowing?

If you tell me what type of fishing you'll be doing I can perhaps recommend some gear.

I'm also incidentally offloading some gear ATM, but don't wanna turn this into a spam thread.

Tight lines,

Paul.

hi paul, sorry missed this (think we posted at the same time). We have no tackle at all at the moment. We'll be fishing a reservoir. As there's only 2 months left of the season I'm not sure if we'll start now or wait till the spring. I did have a quick casting lesson about 6 years ago at a country show, but suspect I'll have forgotten anything I learnt. There are a couple of fly fishing coaches round here (this is pretty big fly fishing country with the river Torridge and all) so will look to book a lesson or two. Don't want to spend a fortune on tackle (like most hobbies it can be a bottomless pit on gear) and I'm aware of the old adage that most tackle is designed to catch anglers, not fish. 

[Deleted User]

Yeah. That lesson will have been long forgotten, I'm afraid. Fly fishing is very much like guitar playing. There is a lot of muscle memory involved. When I pick up a rod early in the season, it takes a couple of hours of solid casting before I can effectively get a line out the way I want.

Thankfully there are plenty of "put and take" fisheries open year round that help keep me fluent.

I looked into that Roadford reservoir you mentioned. Looks like a nice water, but perhaps not the most "beginner friendly" type of venue. Large expanses of water can seem like insurmountable and hopeless tasks when you're standing on the water's edge. Especially if you don't start catching early on.

I would recommend one of the aforementioned "put and take" waters to begin on. They vary greatly in quality between "shooting fish in a barrel" types to some of the most challenging waters you can imagine.

If you find a good one with a helpful owner, you should see yourself into fish relatively successfully. The owner will give advice on where to fish and what flies to use. They may even hire tackle. You'll be happy with some nice fish and the owner will be happy cos you're more likely to come back.

Once you have your skills a bit more refined, you can hit that Roadford res early next season and have at those beautiful broonies that lurk there.

One (well two) word(s) of advice though. If you do decide to fish a large water for brown trout KEEP MOVING! Brown trout are very territorial. If you're fishing a spot and don't encounter fish there may not be one there. They won't come to you. You've got to find them. Cast, move, rinse repeat...

VimFuego

thanks for that, there are several "commercial" fisheries round here, so I'll look up see of any of them are put and take.

fatherjack

I've heard that you have to get the fly really relaxed and receptive first.

VimFuego

don't be so coarse.

Col_Decker

Oi @VimFuego did you ever have a go? I started this summer and now I love it!!! It's the main reason I don't post much here tbh as I'm on fly fishing forums (their loss is your gain). Plus fly gas is cheap, £1.99 for 3 flies vs. £600 for a new guitar ... hmmmm that's good business sense. But alas fly fishing won't get you laid lol

VimFuego

I didn't. Haven't had a whole lot of spare time this year TBH. Friend of mine does sea fishing and I keep saying I'm gonna have a go at that, just need to try and find the time.